Passion and spirit key to Wigan’s success story

YOU COULD be forgiven for staring in disbelief at the Premiership league table in your morning newspaper. Wigan in second place?

Make no mistake, manager Paul Jewell's side are there on merit for what they may lack in talent in comparison to reigning champions and current leaders Chelsea, they more than make up for with passion, spirit, endeavour and heart.

They are proving to Make no mistake, manager Paul Jewell's side are there on merit for what they may lack in talent in comparison to reigning champions and current leaders Chelsea, they more than make up for with passion, spirit, endeavour and heart.

They are proving to to the bitter end of every game, then the rewards follow.

Skipper Arjan de Zeeuw said: "The whole team is playing its part. You only have to see how hard people are working. We're putting the work rate in every week and we're striving for every possible opportunity.

"The gaffer hammers home the point to us about chasing lost causes and we do that, and it is creating chances and we are taking them. We're also just going out to enjoy ourselves, looking to pick up three points against whoever we play, and it's working out well so far.

"Obviously, we don't want to look too far ahead. We've this target of 40 points, and want to get there as quickly as possible. But if we continue to work hard, and with a little bit of luck, then who knows how far we can go."

The refusal to settle for second best was evident at the end of the first half of the win against Fulham, arguably one of Wigan's worst 45 minutes of football this season. De Zeeuw and Jimmy Bullard were seen arguing, with the latter pushing his captain away at one point.

Jewell dismissed the incident as proof his players care, with de Zeeuw adding: "It's the passion of the game. Sometimes you say something you don't mean. We were both annoyed at the way we had played in the first half, and I said something to Jimmy and he said something to me.

"He wants to win, I want to win. I went to him afterwards and we talked about it and it's fine."

Fulham boss Chris Coleman would argue some help from the referee would not have gone amiss, but a string of decisions went against his side after they missed two clear chances in the opening five minutes.

Andre Marriner waved away appeals for a foul on Collins John on the edge of the area, dismissed claims for handball against de Zeeuw inside the box and handball against goalkeeper John Filan outside the area, and booked Moritz Volz for diving as he ran into the box despite being clearly fouled all in the opening half.

Add Pascal Chimbonda's injury-time winner and the Welshman was not happy as he said: "Some of the referee's decisions and it wasn't just him, it was his assistant at the side too have contributed to us coming away with nothing from this game."

Opta Fact: The home side has won in the last seven meetings in all competitions between Wigan and Fulham.

Opta Fact: Wigan have conceded just one goal in their last seven outings in all competitions.